Chain-hose attachment clips

ABSTRACT

A flexible hose is attached at longitudinally spaced points to a link chain by a plurality of clips, so that the hose is carried by the chain, as for example, around a sprocket. The hose is coplanar with the chain and located at the outside of the chain in relation to passage of the chain around the sprocket. Each clip is substantially U-shaped and includes a hose embracing bight portion with a pair of leg portions which are in supporting engagement with transversely spaced link members of the chain. The arrangement is particularly suitable for use on fork lift trucks having a chain actuated carriage with a hydraulically actuated device for moving the forks.

United States Patent Fuetsch [4 June 27, 1972 [54]- CHAIN-HOSEATTACHMENT CLIPS [72] Inventor: William Fuetsch, 77 Corte Ramon,Greenbrae, Calif. 94904 [22] Filed Aug. 6, 1970 [21] Appl. No 61,667

[52] US. Cl ...137/355.l6

[51 Int. Cl ..B65h 75/36 [58] Field otSearch ..137/355.l2, 355.16,355.17,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,892,535 6/1959 Cullen eta1 ...173/l47 X 2,866,474 12/1958 Gummere et a1. ...l37/580 X 3,161,20512/1964 Merker ..l37/355.17 3,330,459 7/1967 Cullen et a1 ..137/355.25 X

3,399,909 9/1968 Ambrose ..137/615 X 3,439,700 4/1969 Preston.........137/6l5 X 3,534,766 10/1970 Barto ..137/355.17 X

Primary Examiner-Samuel Scott Attorney-Jerry B. Cesak [5 7] ABSTRACT Aflexible hose is attached at longitudinally spaced points to a linkchain by a plurality of clips, so that the hose is carried by the chain,as for example, around a sprocket. The hose is coplanar with the chainand located at the outside of the chain in relation to passage of thechain around the sprocket. Each clip is substantially U-shaped andincludes a hose embracing bight portion with a pair of leg portionswhich are in supporting engagement with transversely spaced link membersof the chain. The arrangement is particularly suitable for use on forklift trucks having a chain actuated carriage with a hydraulicallyactuated device for moving the forks.

4 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures This invention relates to new and usefulimprovements in clip-like means for attaching a flexible hose atlongitudinally spaced points to a link chain so that the hose followsthe path of the chain, such as toward, from and around a sprocket orsome other guide, and thus the hose does not become slack, displaced orotherwise left loosely positioned in an environment where it may causehazardous-obstructions and may itself be damaged.

While the teachings of the invention are applicable to chainhoseattachments in general, the invention particularly concerns itself withthe environment of so-called industrial trucks or fork lift trucks whichinclude a mast with a carriage movable thereon and forks provided on thecarriage. In such trucks it is customary to raise and lower the carriageon the mast by link chains passing around sprockets on a hydraulicallyactuated cross head, and quite often the forks, rather than being rigidwith the carriage, are movable relative thereto by a hydraulic cylinderwhich requires operative connection by flexible hoses to the hydraulicsystem of the truck. Since the fork actuating cylinder is mounted on thecarriage, the hydraulic hoses connected to the cylinder must makeallowance for vertical movement of the carriage on its mast, or in otherwords, the hoses must be long enough to facilitate vertical movement ofthe carriage and this presents many problems in that in some positionsof the carriage the hoses may be too tightly drawn while in otherpositions they may be so slack and loose as to create obstructions andpossible damage to the hoses themselves by entanglement with otherobjects.

In recognition of these disadvantages some efforts have been made towardsubstantially coordinating the length and movement of the hydraulichoses with the carriage actuating chains, one example of such effortsappearing in U.S. Pat. No. 2,432,411 issued Dec. 9, 1947 to P. R. Guerinet al. In that patent the flexible hydraulic hoses are attached atlongitudinally spaced points by clips to one side of the chains sothatthe hoses are substantially coextensive with the chains and follow thechain movement without undue slack, including movement around sprocketson the cross head.

While the chain-hose attachment shown in the aforementioned patent ofGuerin et al. is generally satisfactory for its intended purpose ofovercoming the above outlined disadvantages which arise when the hosesare simply slack and loose without having any effective guidance at all,the arrangement still leaves something to be desired from the standpointof attaching the hose to the chain in such manner that the flexible hosemay properly follow the contour of the chain and be effectivelysupported by the chain, especially when the chain passesaround thesprocket and reverses its direction of travel by some I80".

In accordance with conventional practice, including that which isreflected by the aforementioned Guerin et al. patent, the flexible hoseis attached by clips to one side of the chain and is thus disposed in aplane exterior to that in which the chain travels. As a result, when thechain passes around the sprocket and reverses its direction of travel,the clips which fasten the hose to the chain are relied upon for atransmission of forces necessary to bend and reverse the direction oftravel of the hose along with the chain, and the chain itself does notafford any support for the hose during the bending movement.

It is the principal object of the present invention to improve upon theaforementioned conventional practice of attaching the hose to the chainso that the latter, particularly in its passage around the sprocket,provides effective support for the hose as the hose follows movement ofthe chain around the sprocket. This object is attained by placing thehose on the outside of the chain rather than at one side thereof as inthe prior art, and by providing special clips for attaching the thuspositioned hose to the chain.

The arrangement of the invention is simple in structure, highlyefficient in operation, and readily applicable to link chains ofdifferent types without obstruction of either the chains or thesprockets.

With the foregoing more important object and features in view and suchother objects andfeatures which may become apparent as thisspecification proceeds, the invention will be understood from thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, wherein like characters of reference designate like parts, andwherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a conventional fork lift truck,representing the environment in which the invention is used;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary elevational view showing the carriageactuating chain and sprocket of the truck, with the hydraulic hoseattached to the chain by clips in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary side elevational view of the chainwith a clip thereon, the hose being shown by dotted lines;

. FIG. 4 is an elevational view taken from the right-hand side of FIG.3;

5 FIG. 5 is a view, similar to that in FIG. 4, but showing the clip on adifferent type of chain;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view, taken substantially in the plane of the line6-6 in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to that in FIG. 6 but showing a modifiedembodiment of the clip; and

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a wire blank from which clips of the inventionmay be formed.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in detail, reference is firstdrawn to FIG. 1 which shows a conventional industrial truck or fork lifttruck 10 provided at the front thereof with the usual mast 11 on whichis slidable a carriage 12, the latter supporting the forks 13. Thecarriage is slid upwardly and downwardly on the mast by a pair oftransversely spaced chains, indicated at 14, the chains passing aroundsprockets 15 on a cross head in the mast 11, which cross head is raisedor lowered by a hydraulic cylinder operatively connected to thehydraulic system of the truck. All this structure is well known in theart and does not require any detailed explanation or illustrationherein, it merely being desirable to outline the environment in whichthe invention is primarily intended to be used.

It is also well known in the art to movably mount the forks 13 on thecarriage 12, as for example, for transverse movement relative to thecarriage, and this is usually effected by a hydraulic cylinder 16,mounted on the carriage and operatively connected to the forks. Thecylinder 16, of course, must also be connected to the hydraulic systemof the truck by flexible hydraulic hoses which must be long enough tocompensate for movement of the carriage 12 upwardly or downwardly on themast II. For various reasons already mentioned in the opening paragraphsof this specification, it is desirable for these hoses to be attached tothe carriage actuating chains 14 so that the chains and hoses are movedin unison, and the invention concerns itself specifically with theattachment of a flexible hydraulic hose, indicated at 17, to a typicalchain 14, as presently described.

A typical link chain 14, as shown in detail in FIGS. 3 and 4, has a setof links 18, 19 alternately connected together in series by pivot pins20. The links 18 consist of a pair of transversely spaced link members18a which overlap on the outside the corresponding link members 19a ofthe links 19. The transverse spacing of the link members 19a is such asto accommodate there'between the teeth of the sprocket 15 around whichthe chain passes.

In accordance with the invention the flexible hydraulic hose 17 isdisposed at the outside of the chain 14, that is, at the. outer edges ofthe link members 18a, 19a, in the context that these link members haveouter and inner edges with respect to passage of the chain around thesprocket 15. Thus, the hose 17 is located within the plane of the chainor coplanarly therewith, as distinguished from its possible locationoutside of the plane of the chain when the hose is attached to one sideof the chain as in the prior art.

The hose 17 is attached at longitudinally spaced points to the chain 14by plurality of clips 21, as is best shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 6.

Each clip 21, which may be conveniently formed from wire, issubstantially U-shaped and includes a curved bight portion 22 whichembraces the hose 17, a pair of leg portions 23 which extend along theinside surfaces of the link members 18a, and a pair of hook portions 24which are in supporting engagement with the inner edges of the linkmembers 18a, as will be clearly apparent from FIG. 6. The wire thicknessof the clip is substantially the same or somewhat smaller than thethickness of the link members 190, and since the leg portions 23 aredisposed at the inner surfaces of the link members 18a in a spacebetween the members 19a of the adjacent links 19, the presence of theclip does not in any way interfere with passage of the chain around thesprocket 15.

The clip 21 may be formed from mild steel wire having suffrcientmalleability for the hook portions 24 to be formed by bending the sameinto a substantially U-shaped configuration after the leg portions 23have been inserted into the chain, so that the hook portions 24 engagethe inner edges of the link members 18a as already stated. On the otherhand, the wire of the clip may be inherently resilient, as in themodified embodiment of the clip 121 shown in FlG. 7, in which the hookportions 124 are pre-formed as simple outturned ends of the leg portions123. The latter are resiliently urged apart and thus biased against theinside surfaces of the links 18a, thus sustaining the hook portions 124in engagement with the inner edges of the links. The links 121 areapplied to the chain by simply squeezing the leg portions 123 towardeach other, inserting them into the chain and permitting them to spreadapart for engaging the hook portions 124 with the inner edges of thelinks.

FIG. 8 merely illustrates a wire blank such as may be used in formingthe clips 21 or 121.

FIG. shows the clip 21 applied to a silent type of link chain 114 havingalternate links 118, 119 each consisting of several parallel linkmembers, but the arrangement is much the same as that already describedin regard to FIGS. 3 and 4 in that the hook portions of the clip areapplied to the outside members of the link 118. Manifestly, the clip 121may be used with the chain 114 in place of the clip 21.

lt is to be particularly noted that in all instances the clips 21 or 121attach the hose 17 to the outside of the chain (as distinguished fromone side of the chain) and the hose is thus disposed coplanarly with thechain and within its plane of movement. This is especially importantwhen the chain passes around the sprocket and thus reverses itsdirection of travel, since at that point the clips not only bend thehose so that it follows the bending of the chain, but the chain itselfaffords an effective support for the hose during bending. This assuresthat the hose is bent to the proper curvature along the entire arc ofthe bend, and avoids any possibility of the hose being displaced, or toosharply bent, or tending to move off at a tangent in its regions betweenthe clips, as can occur in the prior art where the hose is attached toone side of the chain.

It may be added that although the chain has been described as passingaround the sprocket 15, it may pass around any other conventional guideelement, such as for example a roller with a raised center portion onits periphery, or the like.

While in the foregoing there have been shown and described the preferredembodiments of the invention, various modifications may be resorted to,falling within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed as new is:

l. The combination of a chain which passes around a rotatable sprocketand includes a plurality of links pivotally connected together with eachlink including a pair of transversely spaced link members having innerand outer edges with respect to passage of the chain around thesprocket, a flexible hose juxtaposed to said chain in coplanar relationtherewith and located at the outer edges of said link members, and aplurality of clips attaching said flexible hose at longitudinally spacedpoints to said chain, each of said clips being substantially U-shapedand including a bight portion and a pair of leg portions, said legportions being in supporting engagement with the respective link membersand said bight portion extending transversely of the chain from theouter edges of the link members and embracing said flexible hose.

2. The combination as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said clips alsoincludes hook portions provided at the extremities of said leg portionsand engaging the inner edges of said link members.

3. The combination as defined in claim 2 which is further characterizedin that said leg portions extend along side surfaces of the respectivelink members.

4. The combination as defined in claim 3 which is further characterizedin that said clip is formed from resiliently yieldable material and theleg portions thereof are resiliantly biased against the side surfaces ofsaid link members to sustain said hook portions in engagement with theinner edges of the link members.

1. The combination of a chain which passes around a rotatable sprocketand includes a plurality of links pivotally connected together with eachlink including a pair of transversely spaced link members having innerand outer edges with respect to passage of the chain around thesprocket, a flexible hose juxtaposed to said chain in coplanar relationtherewith and located at the outer edges of said link members, and aplurality of clips attaching said flexible hose at longitudinally spacedpoints to said chain, each of said clips being substantially U-shapedand including a bight portion and a pair of leg portions, said legportions being in supporting engagement with the respective link membersand said bight portion extending transversely of the chain from theouter edges of the link members and embracing said flexible hose.
 2. Thecombination as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said clips alsoincludes hook portions provided at the extremities of said leg portionsand engaging the inner edges of said link members.
 3. The combination asdefined in claim 2 which is further characterized in that said legportions extend along side surfaces of the respective link members. 4.The combination as defined in claim 3 which is further characterized inthat said clip is formed from resiliently yieldable material and the legportions thereof are resiliantly biased against the side surfaces ofsaid link members to sustain said hook portions in engagement with theinner edges of the link members.